


breaking and entering

by phalangine



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Crack, Gen, M/M, the one where james is a retired military man and silver is a thief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 11:11:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8160106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phalangine/pseuds/phalangine
Summary: James has been back for nearly three months. He’s doing better than most, at least according to Gates. He has a job, an apartment, and an easy commute. He hasn’t gotten caught up in anything he shouldn’t get caught up in, hasn’t done anything he shouldn’t; everything he’s supposed to do, he does. He even keeps his appointments with the therapist. All the hallmarks of a man doing a good job of readjusting to civilian life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this tumblr post](http://phalangine.tumblr.com/post/150869762255/thestirge-so-i-heard-this-story-second-hand-many)

James has been back for nearly three months. He’s doing better than most, at least according to Gates. He has a job, an apartment, and an easy commute. He hasn’t gotten caught up in anything he shouldn’t get caught up in, hasn’t done anything he shouldn’t; everything he’s supposed to do, he does. He even keeps his appointments with the therapist. All the hallmarks of a man doing a good job of readjusting to civilian life.

He’s reaching for his keys to unlock his door after a long, frustrating appointment with Gates when he hears an unfamiliar voice curse from the wrong side of his door. James is reaching for a gun he doesn’t have before he realizes he’s doing it; when his hand merely brushes against denim, he closes his eyes, counts backwards from ten, and takes a deep breath.

Even unarmed, James is still formidable enough to put up a fight.

He unlocks the door as quietly as he can, slowly turns the handle, then throws the door open.

“Hey!” he shouts as he shoulders his way in. “Leave off my stuff, you- What the fuck?”

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room is a man with a mop of curly hair and a jacket with a label James immediately recognizes and knows costs more than a month’s rent. The man has one of James’ takeout menus in one hand, a cellphone in the other. He raises his brows when he looks up and finds James staring at him in confusion.

“Mate,” the stranger says, voice plaintive. “Tell me you don’t actually live like this.”

“Excuse me?” James asks, rankling at the man’s tone

“This is just sad. You don’t have a proper bed, and the fridge… the fridge is just sad. This place just screams ‘sad bachelor’.”

“You’re the one who broke in.”

Stranger sighs. “Look. Don’t call the cops, okay? I’ll buy you dinner. It’s the least I can do.”

“Or you could get the fuck out of my home.”

Waving the menu, Stranger puts on a pout. “Come on. You’ve got decent taste in Chinese. This place makes the best dim sum in the city.”

Maybe it’s because Gates was on him so hard. Maybe it’s because he’s lonely without Miranda and Thomas. Maybe he’s just tired of eating alone. Whatever the reason, James doesn’t find himself telling the man to get lost. Instead, he sighs and kicks the door shut.

“I don’t like dim sum.”

Stranger beams at him. “Then let’s find you something you do like.”

 

**_xx_ **

 

The man who delivers their takeout turns out to be a friend of James’ unsought guest.

“Billy Bones!” the man calls. “Come in, you old bastard. Sit down. I hope you brought the things I told you to. Our host barely has a plate to his name, poor man.”

Billy gives them an easy grin and lifts the overfull bags in his hands. “I’ve got the paper plates and plasticware, just like you asked.”

“And Eleanor?”

“She’s got Ben working on things.”

“Excellent. Now come on. Let’s tuck in before the mob arrives.”

Shaking off the stupor brought on by the latest unexpected addition to his houseguests, James asks, “Who the hell is he?”

Both men blink at him for a long moment before Stranger Number One says, “He’s Billy Bones.”

“That means nothing to me.”

“Probably for the best, that,” Billy says with a nod before turning away and craning his neck. “Have you got anything to drink? And where should I put the food?”

“Max is getting the drinks, and you may as well put the bags on the floor until Madi and the girls get here. It’s probably clean enough to eat off.”

Flint looks on in wonder as two strangers set about unpacking food no one has paid for on the floor, with more strangers to come, without a single word of explanation for him. Neither seems concerned about Flint objecting, and Flint, for the first time, can’t bring himself to do it on his own.

 

**_xx_ **

 

Within half an hour, James’ table-less, chair-less, single-mattress, apartment has been transformed. He now has a table, a box spring, a TV, two chairs, a full fridge, and, for reasons no one has felt the need to share, a liquor cabinet stocked full of orange and grape soda. Someone brought speakers, and there’s music James doesn’t recognize playing loudly as the group of strangers laughs and dances around in his tiny apartment.

There are more people in the room than James has been around since he was discharged. Most of them are clearly younger than he is, and it’s strange to watch them from his new chair in the corner near the open window.

“Hey.”

Glancing up, Flint finds himself looking up at the man who started this chaos.

“What do you want?” he half yells to be heard over the music.

The man cocks his head. “Walk with me.”

With nothing better to do, Flint gets to his feet and, with only a few backward glances, follows him out the door. They move through the hall silently, make their way down the stairs and through the lobby without speaking. When they get outside, Flint falls into step with the other man, and they wordlessly start off on a circuit around the block.

“Better?”

Flint can’t help but flinch. He’d thought he was being discreet. “You haven’t told me your name yet, you know,” he says, clumsily trying to turn the table. “You introduced me to your friends, but you never told me who you are.”

One corner of his mouth twitching, the man holds out his hand. “John Silver. Good to meet you, Captain.”

“How did you-” Flint comes to an abrupt stop, the answer obvious. “You went through my things.”

Silver doesn’t stop moving. He simply turns and begins walking backwards. “I’d apologize, but you can’t seriously have thought I didn’t.”

If he’s honest, Flint had been too overwhelmed by the sudden company to consider the man going through his things. The idea is unsettling, and he quickly resumes walking to shake off the thought of foreign hands going through his belongings.

“I didn’t take anything, for what it’s worth,” Silver adds.

“Not from me, no,” Flint says with a snort, “but I know how much a TV like that costs.”

Unrepentant, Silver’s smile only grows. “You going to turn us in?”

“And upset a bunch of thieves?”

“Maybe you’ve got a strong moral compass.”

“I’ve got a stronger attachment to my bank account.”

“Please. You’ve probably got five dollars to your name.”

Flint shakes his head, amused despite himself. “You’re a real shit, you know that?”

“That’s unkind. And after I went to all the trouble of throwing you a party-”

“Filled with things you stole.”

“-things that _we_ stole, thank you. And yes, things that came from fortune smiling on us and shitting on other people. It’s about time something good happened to you.” Before Flint can object, Silver raises a hand. “I know what down and out looks like, and you, retired Captain James Flint, are the image by the dictionary definition.”

“Aren’t you too old to be using dictionaries with pictures?”

“Not just yet.”

The conversation lapses after that, and after a few near misses with falling on his ass, Silver turns around and returns to walking normally.

By the time they make it back to his building’s front doors, Flint is ready to fall asleep on his feet. Despite taking the sleeping pills Gates has been writing him prescriptions for, Flint hasn’t had a full night’s sleep in far too long. As if sensing Flint’s exhaustion, Silver takes it upon himself to shut the last of the party down and shoo the uninvited guests away. Billy, along with his long-haired shadow Flint vaguely recalls goes by Ben, stays after to help clean up before leaving as well. Silver follows them out with only a cheeky wink and a pointed, “See you around, Captain.”

Flint’s restless streak doesn’t get broken that night, but instead of pacing around his cramped apartment or watching mindless late night TV, Flint lies back and thinks of a thief so bad at stealing, he gave more than he took.

Somehow, Flint gets the feeling this won’t be the last he sees of John Silver, though. Not by a long shot.


End file.
